Positive Test For Lyme Disease

[Guest cindy]

We took Broadway in for his annual check-up today and he tested positive for Lyme disease. He gets Frontline once a month (year round) and he's had the Lyme vaccine. We live in a townhouse so there is no backyard to speak of. His outdoor activity consists of leash walks around the neighborhood and an occasional trip to the dog park. I have no idea where he could have picked up a deer tick. He is not showing any symptoms of Lyme disease but we are starting a round of antibiotics today.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm very puzzled!

 

Cindy

[Guest Swifthounds]

What kind of test was it? Some tests can't distinguish between immune reaction to the vaccine and immune reaction to the disease ( those tests that measure antibodies).

[Batmom]

I think even the snap tests use C6 now, and that distinguishes between vaccine and disease. One would presume your vet knows the difference, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[tbhounds]

Most clinics are using the in house Snap 4DX. Idexx claims the test only checks for active infection. The test just gives a postive or negitive result. To actually get a "number" your vet will need to send serum to Idexx where they will run a C6. Most clinics have adapted the policy that if the number comes back under 30 and the pet is not displaying symptoms you don't treat--- over 30 you treat. A C6 is usually checked again in 6 months and if the number is reduced by 50% the disease is considered treated. Sorry to simplify -- I'm on my phone AND I'm not wearing my glasses-- bad combo!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Lyme portion of the Snap (3DX and 4DX) identifies the presence of a C6 antibody that elevates with active infection. The HW test is the only antigen portion.

 

I would start treatment with a positive and send blood out for further testing, since timing of treatment can greatly impact treatability and presence/permanence of symptoms.

[kudzu]

If a positive showed up on a SNAP 3DX or 4DX I would start treatment without delay. Many years ago delaying treatment on a dog with no symptoms was not necessarily considered harmful but as my vet so eloquently put a few years ago, "We've found that that approach can sometimes come back to bite us in the butt." As suggested though, get them to send off now for a C6 and then test again at periods later to monitor likely success of treatment.

 

Good luck with treatment.

[Guest zaylea]

Unfortunately, Frontline isn't great for preventing Lyme disease because of how long it takes for the tick to actually die and fall off. I had late-stage Lyme disease, and never recalled getting a tick (but I had a rash on my elbow). They're sneaky, especially the younger ticks. They can feed on you and jump off and you'd never notice. I agree that starting treatment asap is important. The symptoms for dogs aren't too different from humans, and that's a disease I wouldn't wish on anyone!

[Guest cindy]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful info! We did start the treatment immediately (doxycycline), so hopefully that will do the trick and we will never actually have any symptoms. The test that the vet ran was in-house but it was one that distinguished between vaccine and disease. We will definitely re-test through Idexx and keep an eye on it. I've heard this is supposed to be a bad year for ticks, at least here in Maryland.

[Guest dragontearz]

What I don't understand is how prevalent is it that you can get the Lyme disease vaccine yet still get Lyme disease? I got the vaccine for Oberon, but if it doesn't work, what's the point?

[dante2zoe]

Good luck with the treatment! We just finished it, also here in Maryland! My vet divided the doxy dose into a twice a day regime instead of once a day. Dante has a sensitive stomach. I also gave him probiotics during treatment. When his gut got really bad, we also gave him Flagyl. He was symptomatic, however, and is now a 1000x better than before.

 

Cindy

[Guest Houndstown]

Unfortunately, Frontline isn't great for preventing Lyme disease because of how long it takes for the tick to actually die and fall off. I had late-stage Lyme disease, and never recalled getting a tick (but I had a rash on my elbow). They're sneaky, especially the younger ticks. They can feed on you and jump off and you'd never notice. I agree that starting treatment asap is important. The symptoms for dogs aren't too different from humans, and that's a disease I wouldn't wish on anyone!

 

I had no idea that Frontline was great at preventing Lyme disease but what you said makes since. Ticks have been very bad down here already this year. We even had some over the winter. I'm going to Google the symptoms for Lyme disease now so I can be on the lookout. I'm not usually a hypochondriac but this is different.

 

Thanks for all the good info and good luck with Broadway!!

[Guest zaylea]

 

I had no idea that Frontline was great at preventing Lyme disease but what you said makes since. Ticks have been very bad down here already this year. We even had some over the winter. I'm going to Google the symptoms for Lyme disease now so I can be on the lookout. I'm not usually a hypochondriac but this is different.

 

 

I'm going to caution that you be careful about what you find on the internet about Lyme disease. The only reliable information are at places like Columbia University's site, or IDSA's site. There's a lot of conspiracy theory stuff and it can sound really scary. There's a lot of sites that look like they're legitimate professional organizations but they're NOT. It's the sort of disease where it's very easy to look at the symptom list and think "OMG I HAVE THAT".

 

Lyme disease is pretty tricky to diagnose. Not everyone gets a rash. Sometimes it doesn't even actually come up on blood tests! It's multi-systemic and the symptoms look like a lot of other things. I didn't go to the doctor until I got to a point where it became a struggle to do day to day things. I was sleeping all the time, I'd gained 30 lbs, my head felt like it was in a constant fog and my memory and concentration were pretty useless. At first, the doctor did kind of act like I was being a hypochondriac, and suggested it was either my weight (sheesh, I didn't get THAT fat, guy!) or that I was depressed (also nonsense). He ran some blood tests, and while I didn't test positive for lyme, it was obvious something funny was going on with my immune system. Based on that and my history (strange rash, followed by weird flu that wasn't quite a flu and never really went away, and then the neurological problems), he referred me to an infectious disease specialist and I had to take 8 weeks of antibiotics and 12 weeks of mega vitamin D pills. The symptoms are gone now, and now I just have to work on losing the weight and getting strong again (I feel like I spent a year of my life laying on the couch).

Edited April 12, 2011 by zaylea

[Guest zombrie]

My GSD and Golden have both been diagnosed with Lyme within a month of eachother.

The way we KNOW our dogs (or horse) has lyme, is when they start acting up. Uncharacteristic aggression is a biggie. Caesar randomly attacked Doolin twice. Lyme. Kodie has been snarkier than usual. Lyme.

Lyme settles in the joints so limping can (not always) be a symptom. It attacks the weakest part of the body. Last year when Mira had lyme, all of a sudden she couldn't hold up her back end. She has arthritis in her back and the lyme settled in her lower back, crippling her.

 

Just remember, once your dog has lyme, they will always test positive for it.